Dead May Cry Too
by GemKnight
Summary: Dante comes across a Necromacer's safe house, finding an experiment he left behind, can Dante use him to defeat the Necromacer in his own tower.
1. 01 Just What I Am

Necromancers, Dante hated Necromancers, to think a human could sink as low as a demon in that way, just rubbed him the wrong way. The tip he'd gotten to lead him to this safe house hadn't mentioned a necromancer specifically, just a lot of strange and magical activity. Once he'd busted down the door and checked the first couple of rooms it was clear. Bodies were laying on every surface in various states, some being dissected, others lying in magical circles. He followed a stairway down into a cement lined basement. Six bodies were spread out in the room with masks over their faces. Five of them had rotten beyond recognition. Dante walked over to the sixth one and removed the mask-

The body rose with a gasp- but no air was actually pulled into his lungs. Dante instantly had Ivory pressed against his temple. He turned slowly towards Dante with fear in his expression. "Please don't hurt me?"

Dante frowned, but lowered his gun, "You look like just another walking corpse to me.

"That's just what I am- now. It's not my fault." He turned and lowered his legs over the side of the granite slab he had been lying on. "He took all of us, she- she tried to fight him, but even she was overwhelmed…"

He seemed really shaken by just the idea that this '_she_' of his could be beaten; obviously this was a new level of power for this guy. Dante didn't know if that really meant anything or not though…

"Oh god he still has her- he put one of his masks on her to control her and took her-"

"Whoa- let's curb the hysterics. Tell you what- I don't like Necromancers- I was gonna nail this guy anyway, let's say I let you tag along so you can find your lady-friend, can you fight worth a damn?"

That question seemed to straighten him up a bit. He looked around him for a moment; behind the slab of granite he was on he pulled out a wicked looking chain, with spikes at every other link, and two larger circlets at about a third's from the edge, and one larger than either of those at the center. "I don't know what good I'll be in the final battle, but I'm certainly no novice if you're asking."

He wrapped the chain into a circle and clasped it at his side, "I'm Ro, apparently one of the last of my Magic Guild."

"Magic? Mages?"

Ro turned to look at Dante appraisingly at last- which seemed to catch Dante off guard- now that this guy had accepted that he was dead and not doomed, his whole body language became a lot more serious, "We study all sorts of magic styles, and many different applications- as a matter of fact- we have only one field of magic that is forbidden- death… the study of it and practice of magic involving it is too tempting to abuse." He stopped, "He was a prominent member- until he was convicted of researching the dead for magical purposes…"

"You're necromancer guy?"

"Zorn- he- he took out the whole guild- those that he didn't kill on the spot, he dragged back so he could do stuff like this to," he motioned around the room. He looked over at Dante again, "Why, are you opposed to magic?"

Dante scoffed at that one, "As if I had a choice, my powers are given to me by birth," he held out his hand in handshake, with a smirk on his face he spoke, "I'm Dante, son of the legendary Sparda."

Dante kept his smirk as the phrase had the desired effect, his name was obviously known to him and his guild. It took him an extra minute to notice Dante's hand extended and shake it, but worth the wait.

"So you're- half demon?"

Dante nodded. Dante turned back to the exit, "unless you think we're gonna find more here, lets head back to my place and get you some firearms, melee weapons are nice and make a big crunch on most monsters, but sometimes you just need to unload from more than a few meters back to soften them up."

Ro nodded slightly, and stepped up right behind Dante- "That sword- is it?"

Dante noticed Ro's glance at Sparda, "Yep, my father's weapon, a little tampered with by now, but no less powerful."

Dante lead Ro out of the building. The shock seemed to come and go in waves, one moment he was serious, like when he was sizing Dante up, most of the time though he was in a state of melancholy, muttering something about either the guild or his girl- Nora.

"I had just proposed to her, she took the ring, but we hadn't even begun making plans…"

"Right," Dante said offhandedly as he threw one leg over his bike and slid on, "Hop on back kid."

Ro got on back, "How did you know to come here anyway?"

"Source of mine told me some spell-caster was playing in some deep shit, his sources led him here. Thought if I didn't find him I might at least learn a bit about him; which I did- found me a source who can tell me a whole lot about him, didn't I."

Ro's expression changed slowly as he picked up the not-too subtle undertone there. "Look, I only know what everyone in the guild knew about him. He was a member about 70 years ago. He's gotta be over 200 now, he kept looking for ways to keep himself alive- I guess it was little wonder he started researching death- he was obsessed. Most of what I know Nora told me, she's been in the guild longer than me, and she's where Zorn was when he left- minus the death kick. I don't even know why he had to wait 70 years to get back at the guild."

"More likely he just needed magic-capable subjects to experiment on, if he's looking for a way to cheat death like you say."

"Possible, but what he did to us wouldn't work on himself."

"Oh?"

"No, you can't put your own soul back in your body when you're dead- which is what he did to me and the rest of us. He'd need some other method. But he was probably examining how a soul well a soul stays in a dead body. Possibly studying the old texts on the nature of a Litch."

"Litch- why does that sound familiar to me?"

"It's just the term used for undead magic-users. There hasn't been one on thousands of years. The records of how-to and why are all but lost- I can only assume he found some."

"So, it's more than likely Sparda fought a few in his day, 's probably why it sounds familiar. Must of heard a few stories about my old man growin' up." Dante took a moment; it had been a long time since he had given any thought at all to stories about his father. "If it helps, it'll come to me," Dante conceded at last. "We're here."

Ro looked up to see the pink neon sign, "Devil May Cry."

"Ally of mine came up with it, says my glare is so cold and intense that when facing it, even The Devil may cry."

"That doesn't sound like it would take much, but I get your- ally's meaning."

"What do you mean by that- the first part?"

"You're not a very religious person are you?"

"Not so much no, I make my own luck," with that he reached into his jacket and pulled out a coin, he tossed it over to Ro so he could look at it.

Ro noticed the same heads emblem on both sides, then tossed it back with a smirk, "Cute. Heads you win, Tails they lose."

Dante caught his coin and pocketed it, taking that moment he chuckled, "Yeah, pretty much, either way, I always win."

Dante brought Ro over to the armory in the cellar. On one side was a number of swords, gauntlets, and other obviously enchanted weapons- the other, more guns than could arm a platoon.

"Don't bother with any of the swords and the like, I doubt any of them would work for you anyway, they've all bonded to me, as well as some of the guns, but I'm sure you can find something you can use."

Ro took a moment examining the wall. He finnaly spotted it, something that would make his old friend Shin cry with joy. It was really too big for him, but that was fixable. He took it off the wall with both arms.

"Whoa- I like you're style, but think you can carry that?"

Ro chanted something unintelligible for a moment, the whole gun glowed and runes appeared along one side of it. After that Ro held it out one handed as though it were a paperweight. He slapped a clip in it and pointed it around the room to gauge his speed with it.

"Rail gun it is," Dante mused.


	2. 02 The Obelisk

Dante looked up at the magnitude of the tower standing before them. "I take it this guy's into anything that demonstrates he's bigger and better?"

"He's used to being and having the best…"

"Sounds like he never got spanked as a child."

"I heard by the time he was ten he was stronger in magic than his whole family."

"It takes more than magic strength to win a fight."

"He's got enough of whatever it does take to take down an entire guild; more than a few of them had a hell of a lot more than just magic strength." Ro came off a little indignant as he said that.

"I don't mean anything against you, or your guild, I'm saying his parents still should've been able to handle him as a brat, and we ought to be able to take him down a notch now."

"So what do you have that makes you certain?"

"A really big stick," Dante joked with a straight face as he put a hand on Sparna's handle. He slashed down quickly with the blade, it expanded to something between a halberd and a glaive as it blew the reinforced door off its hinges. Dante stepped over the rumble and looked around. He pointed at three masked figures and motioned at Ro, "Any of these guys familiar?"

Ro came in behind him, "None of them are the one I care about." He said coldly.

Dante shrugged, "Fair enough."

With that Ro was shocked with the speed Dante used to dash across the floor and towards the first figure, impailing his blade deep into and through its chest. It- he, grunted, but was obviously still animated. As it took two daggers and began plunging them rapidly into Dante's back. Dante brought his blade upwards and through the masked dead- cutting from one thigh to the opposite shoulder, the two halfs falling to either side. The side with a head made one last reach for Dante, as he took his shotgun and leveled it at the '_zombie's_' forehead, and blew his head into unrecognizable pieces.

Ro took that moment to finally join the fight. Leveling the rail gun to '_soften_' his opponent up, as Dante had said, he shot a short burst of three shots at one of the other masked zombies. As he did it began the gestural portions of an incantation. A growing ball of fire built up in its left hand. Ro launched out his chain and it extended supernaturally and wrapped itself around its wrist. Pulling hard the chain pulled away from the wrist and cut into it, sheering it off. The hand fell to the ground and the fireball fizzled away. Ro launched his chain again and entangled it around most of the zombie's body, pulling it back the head fell separate from the rest of the pieces that fell off after it stood defying gravity for a brief moment.

When Ro looked back at Dante, he was digging his blade out of a gaping hole in the third zombie that cut into both its chest and head. "Their masks seem plain; I would imagine the more elaborate the mask, the more difficult they may be to beat."

Ro looked down at the bodies and picked up the mask from the one he'd beaten, and remembered the elaborate mask placed on Nora, "I'd say that's a safe bet." He took the mask in both hands and snapped it in two, tossing both pieces behind him.

The two of them looked around the elaborate entryway. A large stairway led to two wings, behind the stairs was a large doorway, and to either side were smaller doorways.

"He's going to have two important places, the top most floor for being showy, and lowermost for dangerous projects. Now he's also heavy into magic, so he's probably got a way to get to them quickly."

"But," Dante picked up on, "he's probably a paranoid, delusional, megalomaniac, and he'll have whatever shortcut system he uses heavily guarded."

Ro smirked and nodded, "Fought enough power-hungry magic-users?"

Dante shrugged, "There's still a few around, so not really."

"No wonder they're paranoid," Ro joked. Then he pulled out a small sapphire and began focusing, the sapphire glowed, changing colors a couple times as Ro cast into it. Dante wanted to ask what he was doing, but he knew enough about magic not to break his concentration. The Sapphire flashed and vanished, reappearing a moment later as just a floating blue light.

"Tracking spell- not very reliable in all honesty though, it just tracks the most magical object, then the next most, and so on."

The blue glow flew over to Dante and flittered around him as if in excitement. Ro closed his eyes in disappointment, "See- first it found you. It prioritizes by both power and distance- the further it is, the less strongly it detects it, the closer it is, the more strongly it detects it." He went over and touched it, it stopped hovering over Dante and moved on- only to return and hover around Sparda, then Ro's chain, then Ro. Ro was muttering under his breath as he touched it one more time. This time it fluttered off and away- up the stairs and to the left. "Left is sinister," Ro mused.

"Pardon?"

"Joke I picked up from my parents, old school mages, they actually had a group friends they'd actually go off and adventure with. Not many of those around today, just a few lone heros…" Ro looked downhearted for a bit, but perked up, "Anyway, whenever they reached a corridor they'd go left first, because left was supposed to be more sinister, and all the evil stuff was to the left. I imagine they probably faced their share of people like Zorn- until he wiped out the whole Guild. I'm starting to see how power doesn't always make the difference." Ro turned to Dante, "Strategy, know you're enemy. He knew exactly what he was going up against and prepared accordingly beforehand. This guy's bound to have barriers he'll expect no one to be able to get through," Ro smiled, "But I never met a spell I couldn't counter."

Dante held his shotgun in front of them as they reached the top of the stairs, "Not much of a welcoming committee yet, he must be saving his forces."

A single masked zombie came over from the left where they were headed; the blue orb was dancing excitedly around its cloak. The zombie reached for the blue orb and summoned it between its fingers, then crushed it in its fist, snuffing out the magic.

"Shin!"

Shin opened his cloak and grabbed a buckler looking contraption. As he slipped it onto his wrist it transformed and covered his arm up to the elbow. It was a bulky looking thing, with a bulge over his wrist and hand, his fingers narrowly poking out, from its front were three protrusions and a small slot right above his fist.

Dante turned to Ro, "I take it you know the guy."

"Yeah, be careful, he likes things that make big explosions and bigger holes, and he's very strong and fast."

"Keep him alive?"

"If you can."

"Just so we're on the same page…"

"Destroy the mask, that should break Zorn's control."

Ro whipped out the rail gun and took aim, Dante pulled out Sparna, '_Well, if he can shoot his own friend, the least I can do is go easy on him_.'

Ro fired the first shot, as soon as he did, Shin turned to face him, and from his gauntlet he fired a Gatling burst back at him. Ro rolled aside, but Dante used that moment to dive in and try to end the fight fast, slashing hard at Shin's face, a barrier seemed to protect the mask, blocking Dante's attack and sending him flying back-

Dante crashed into the stairway, smashed against the railing, and rolled halfway down before he caught himself and pushed up, leaping back to the left wing. "Check that, mask has protection."

"Keep him busy then, I'll fix that," Ro put the rail gun back over his back and put his hands together, a magic circle appeared beneath him as he started chanting.

Dante shrugged and turned back to Shin. Shin turned back at Dante, and even through the mask Dante could tell Shin was smirking smugly at him. From the slot above his fist a blade of fire and lightning came out. In his other hand a ball of fire was growing in his hand.

"I may have to get serious if this keeps up," Dante told Shin with a straight face. Both combatants rushed forward and crossed blades. As they did so Shin thrust his other hand out and the ball of fire burst forward into a blast of fire washing over Dante. Dante rolled away in flames, but rather than put them out he absorbed them into his body, his demon blood boiling forth, horns shooting out on his forehead, his skin becoming more of a thick shell, and the flames rolling along his body.

"Let's see if you can eat this much fire," Shin spoke behind the mask.

"So you can talk, you do realize you're under someone else's control."

"Of course, but by that same note, he controls my will, I can't resist, so I can only do my best."

Shin formed another ball of fire in his hands, but this time the fire shot around his body in a spiral until it formed a sphere of fire around his whole body. Fire continued to build until it spiraled out in a pillar above him. The head of the pillar roared as it took the form of a dragon and launched itself at Dante. Even as Dante moved aside the pillar shifted and the dragon's face turned to correct. Dante took to the sky, unleashing the full of his demonic fury, spreading wings of lightning and fire and shooting above the dragon, blasting lightning at Shin, only to see it bounce off the sphere of fire surrounding him. But it was enough, the dragon dissipated into nothing and the fire in the air burnt away as Dante came down. Shin's spell had a limitation, he could only maintain it for so long- this was good to know.

"Dante!" Ro called out. Dante turned to Ro who shot out his arms, sending out a white light towards Shin, or rather, his mask, which began glowing- "Go for the mask!"

Stinger time, Dante held out Sparna and rushed forward at top speed- dashing forward and stopping only at the last second, bring his blade in a backwards upward slash instead of the standard stab, striking with the blunt of his blade- the mask shattered and knocked Shin back several feet and into the far wall.

Ro rushed strait for Shin- as he dashed by Dante he at least had the courtesy to ask in a rushed voice, "You're okay too right?" Barely waiting for a nod before continuing towards his friend…

AN:

Damn, I rushed through the battle- I never got to show off all the nifty toys Shin had in that arm-peice... oh well, call it the easy-mode first battle boss- difficulty will increase as they go...

Is it odd to be picturing some of this stuff in video game terms, thinking things like, "if this were a game basically you'd have to fight this boss to a certain HP, then use some sort of reaction or special command to finish the fight without killing him"? And actually thinking through the button controls for a standard PS2 controller?

Oh well, R&R, lemme know you guys enjoy it, and it'll make me want to write faster…


End file.
